Drabble Phantom
by Lisa Von Cooper
Summary: Themed triplets of 100-word stories relating to our favourite half-ghost superhero and all his friends and enemies. Rated T just to be safe. I also take requests via the Reviews.
1. One, Two, Three

**Author's Note: The idea behind this is to upload triplets of 100-word stories for your reading pleasure. I might also take requests via the reviews. I hope you enjoy these drabbles!**

 **Drabble Phantom**

 **One**

It was official. After he'd saved the world, they'd become a couple. Danny and Sam did almost everything together. They had date nights in candlelit restaurants every other week. He liked to pick her up and fly her across town, offering her the best views of Amity Park.

Where did that leave their best friend? What was he supposed to do while they gazed into each other's eyes, oblivious to the rest of the world? Where could he look when they streaked across the sky like a shooting star?

Tucker was realising that one could be a very lonely number.

 **Two**

Jack and Maddie worried about how Jazz would react to her new brother. She had always been a boisterous child, running from room to room, throwing her dolls across the hallway and screeching like a banshee.

But as she stepped into the living room and saw the tiny bundle in her mother's arms, it was like someone flicking a switch in her mind. Jazz peered at his face, grinned from ear to ear and said he was the "bestest little brother in the whole world".

She became much more careful. She had to be. She was a big sister now.

 **Three**

There were three people in that relationship: the hunter, the rocker and the pirate.

Skulker and Ember couldn't get a moment's peace. Wherever they went, Youngblood would follow. Whenever they moved in for a kiss, he would leap between them crying, "Avast thar!" or some such nonsense. All it took was a glimpse of his jet-black boat cutting through the ectoplasm for Skulker's good mood to wither.

Ember seemed to find it amusing, laughing off the kid's well-timed interventions. Her boyfriend failed to see the funny side.

That brat wasn't even related to Ember! Why was he being so over-protective?


	2. Birth, Death, Rebirth

**Author's Note: Here's your request, Johnathen! Enjoy!**

 **Birth**

Cradling the little baby, Maddie silently wished he would never grow up. He would stay here with her, and the bad people, no matter how much they clawed at the window and howled, would never get in. Her son would remain as pure as he was now.

As she thought this, he vanished.

Maddie blinked. She still felt his weight in her arms, but she couldn't see his adorable face.

When he reappeared, she sighed. She should have listened to Jack's lectures about prenatal exposure to ectoplasm.

Nevertheless, she kissed Daniel's forehead. She loved him just the way he was.

 **Death**

"NO!" Paulina screamed. She ran between the Red Huntress and the ghost boy.

Valerie lowered her blaster. "Step back, lady."

"Why? So you can hurt him some more?" Paulina knelt beside her fallen hero. "Danny? Can you hear me?"

He groaned. His eyelids fluttered.

"Stay with me, Danny. You can do this."

He couldn't. He spluttered a few times and then stopped moving, a dead weight dragging Paulina to the floor.

The rings washed over his body one last time. The black jumpsuit became a white t-shirt. Ectoplasm became blood.

He left behind a sobbing admirer and a stunned killer.

 **Rebirth**

 _A chill lingered in Nickelodeon Studios. Those glowing green eyes followed him wherever he went. A shadow waited for him in the corner of each room. It drove him crazy. "Leave me alone!" he shouted at last. "Can't you see I'm busy with_ The Fairly OddParents _and_ Bunsen is a Beast _?"_

" _WHY DID YOU KILL ME?" the ghost wailed in reply._

 _Unable to take this haunting harassment for much longer, Butch Hartman had no choice but to sit down and start working on the_ Danny Phantom _reboot._

 _The End._

The fangirl smiled at her work. She could dream, couldn't she?


	3. Dream, Nightmare, Awake

**Dream ("The Ultimate Enemy")**

The dreams are always the same.

They start with Danny sitting in a dingy cage. Someone, usually his mom, unlocks it and lets him out. He is reunited with his family, and with Sam and Tucker. They go somewhere fun, maybe Adrenaland or Floody Waters.

At the end of the day, he is imprisoned again. He tries to hang on as they walk away from him, his frantic fingers grasping their clothes. Jazz just ruffles his hair and tells him they'll come back for him soon.

He wakes in Vlad's mansion. He remembers the explosion. He weeps into his pillow.

 **Nightmare (Ember's POV)**

 _There's no escape._

" _Mom!" I scream. "Dad!" I call for my sisters. No-one hears me._

 _I cough and splutter; the smoke is frying my lungs. My eyes sting as golden flecks flutter into my lashes._

 _And then there's a WHOOSH as the kitchen door flies off its hinges._

 _They're here. The flames. They're all around me, licking me, tasting me, consuming me. They work slowly, savouring my roars of agony._

 _I cannot run. My legs snap. I hit the floor. A soothing blanket of darkness washes over me at last._

 _Like dead trees in cold December, nothing but ashes remain._

 **Awake (Paulina's POV, set after "Lucky in Love")**

 _Ow…_

 _My head…_

 _Why was I dreaming of Danny Fenton? Why do I still dream about him?_

 _Nothing makes sense. I thought I'd passed out in the bathroom of Floody Waters. But apparently I've been going to school for weeks. And dating a total loser. I remember it all, but – I don't think it was me doing those things. And that's hard to understand._

 _The strangest thing, though, is the image in my mind of Danny standing beside the pool. I mean, Inviso-Bill floating beside the pool. I mean, Danny… I don't get it. They're completely different people._

 _Aren't they?_


	4. Cold, Warm, Hot

**Cold**

A ghost's core determines their personality. Danny Phantom's core is made of ice. That's what makes him strong, persistent and able to withstand anything they throw at him.

It also leaves him cold and unfeeling. Saving Amity Park is a duty. It doesn't engage the passions. If he could stop fighting ghosts, he would. Those with ice cores are always a little selfish.

That's why he needs his human half. It gives him the emotions he wouldn't otherwise have. It allows him to form relationships with others. The thawing effect of loving and being loved is what keeps him going.

 **Warm (Casper High, 1958)**

"Hello? Anyone?"

The voice comes from Locker 724.

For a couple of seconds, there's no response from the outside world. Then the janitor's mop clatters to the ground. "A GHOST!" he shrieks. Frantic footsteps scurry away.

But it's not a ghost. Yet.

"Come back!" the poindexter croaks. "Let me out!"

His joints throb because his limbs are bent in places they should not be bent. Broken bones threaten to rip through his skin. Splodges of colour dance before his eyes, obscuring the darkness.

Blood trickles down his face and back, leaking out under the door.

It's still warm.

For now.

 **Hot ("The Ultimate Enemy")**

Something's wrong with his body. Two forces mingle deep within, one hot, one cold. The heat is prodding and jabbing at Danny's chest. He scrunches his face up while his chest is sore and tingling. The ice tries to hold back the fire.

But the fire consumes it.

Danny's eyes spring open. All he sees is green. Ectoplasm. _You are a ghost. You are alone. Nobody wants you._

These thoughts are swimming around in his skull and he's screaming to shut them up and if he's not careful it'll all burst out –

And it does when his hair catches fire.


	5. Wound, Heal, Scar

**Wound**

Danny dabbed his sister's powder onto his cheek. Slowly but surely, the blotchy purple bruise vanished, concealed by dusty cosmetics. He was lucky that he and Jazz had similar skin tones.

If Sam and Tucker asked, he'd say it came from a surprise attack by Skulker. Again.

He knew his parents didn't mean to hurt him. They were just concerned about his ghost half taking over him. And when any Fenton family member was concerned, they tended to lash out at the slightest provocation.

He'd do better next time. He didn't want to give them another thing to worry about.

 **Heal**

They had laughed at Tucker when he got an A in Sewing, but he always knew such a skill would come in handy.

The gash along his best friend's arm looked a little cleaner than it had been, thanks to a thorough wash. Tucker stuffed his red hat into Danny's mouth. It gave the superhero something to chew on and stopped him crying out when the needle poked through his skin again and again. The medic blocked his ears to the whimpers.

When Tucker was finished, he retrieved his drool-sodden beanie.

Tears lingered on Danny's cheeks. "Thank you," he rasped.

 **Scar**

"You don't have to tell Mom and Dad. I won't hurt myself again. I promise."

Jazz shook her head. "It's not that simple, Danny. Once you make the first cut, it's very hard to stop. Self-harm becomes a habit. You have to do it to feel better. And if you're not careful…" She swallowed. "You could kill yourself."

Danny studied the angry lines all over his wrists. Had he broken himself? Had he set off a faulty mechanism? Was there a body clock ticking down to the pressing of a Self-Destruct button?

"You need help."

He didn't argue with her.


	6. Past, Present, Future

**Past (set ten years before the Accident)**

On his mother's orders, Danny scurried outside in his dungarees to retrieve his rocket. A storm was coming. He didn't want it to get wet.

Then he froze, squeezing the toy with his tiny fingers. He'd spotted a dark figure in the corner of the garden.

What a strange man! He was so tall. And his skin was blue. And his head was on fire. Danny had never seen anything like it.

The stranger advanced on the trembling child. Red eyes glinted in the dying sunshine.

"Who are you?" Danny asked.

The giant knelt down and grinned. "I am you."

 **Present (Trans Danny AU)**

Valerie scans the living room. "I don't see many pictures of you."

"Yeah." Danny rubs his neck. "I made Mom take them down. I looked so ugly."

"Hey, I bet you were a cute little girl."

"I wasn't a girl," Danny snaps. "I wasn't cute, either, just chubby and awkward. I hated myself." He flops onto a couch. "Sometimes I still do."

Valerie bites her lip. "Painful memories?"

He nods.

"Well, we'd better make some new ones." She gets her camera out. "Better ones."

Danny smiles. Why think of that horrible past? The present, with Valerie, is all that matters.

 **Future (set in the bad future of "The Ultimate Enemy")**

She loved her daughter. Esperanza was an adorable girl; no matter how bleak the news reports, she was always able to keep a smile on her face. Paulina just wished she could have conceived her in more … _favourable_ circumstances.

Not long after the Nasty Burger explosion, Danny Phantom had disappeared from Amity Park – but when he returned, he definitely wasn't the same. Those unyielding hands, that lolling tongue, those murderous red eyes…

She hadn't told Esperanza about that night. She was still too young. But every time her daughter turned invisible and gave herself the giggles, Paulina's stomach churned.


	7. Heaven, Hell, Purgatory

**Heaven**

Danny glanced at Sam; she lay next to him on the grass, staring at his face through heavy eyelids. He looked away. He looked back. Nothing had changed.

"Sam? The sky is up there." He pointed. "You're stargazing, not me-gazing."

"I am stargazing," Sam insisted. "I'm gazing at a star that fell to Earth." She stroked his arm.

Danny's cheeks reddened. He cleared his throat. "If a star really did fall to Earth, you'd be vaporised."

"That's what you do to me, baby."

She pressed herself against him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Danny forgot about the stars.

 **Hell (Trans Danny AU and Trans Ember AU)**

Danny was once called Daisy – and hated it. He hated his soft, weak, plump body; the weights on his chest that drew attention from lecherous boys; the monthly cycle of gloom and tearfulness followed by cramps and bleeding.

Ember was once called Jeremy – and hated it. She hated the stiff, shapeless block of flesh she inhabited; the hair that grew all over her face and arms and chest; the frog-like voice that couldn't reach the high notes of her favourite songs.

But after their horrific accidents, Danny and Ember could reshape their ectoplasmic bodies. They could be whoever they wanted.

 **Purgatory**

If he tells them, they'll hate him. They'll call him a putrid poltergeist. They'll drag him downstairs and cut him up and pour his remains into test tubes.

If he doesn't tell them, there'll be no security. He'll be a stranger in his own home. He'll flinch whenever they hug him, in case they're wearing those high-voltage Spectre Deflectors.

Either way, he'll be unhappy.

But he can't live like this, constantly lying, frightened of his parents. If he confesses and they reject him, at least he could escape. At least he could seek happiness elsewhere.

He has to tell them.


End file.
